Scrabble App Review – Classic Game Free on iPad & iPhone

The classic crossword board game Scrabble is now available as a free app for the iPad and iPhone, a prospect which should have countless fans of the original game rushing to download it. Think of the advantages of being able to take Scrabble everywhere without having to worry about the board game taking up space and still being able to provide a fun activity for all the family. But aside from saving space how does the free Scrabble app for iPad and iPhone measure up? The Scrabble app review below checks it out.

The first thing to say about the game is that the layout works really well with both tablet and smartphone versions being easy to use and see all aspects of the board, an important consideration given the objective of the game. When you fist load up the app a tutorial walks you through how to setup a game and advance play. It does assume from the outset that you know the rules and objective of the game, but does provide links to the rule book for the uninitiated of you out there.

Users are given the choice of what type of game they wish to play, be it a traditional pass-and-play game between friends on one device, playing a random opponent online or connecting with friends to play over a social network. On the free version there is no option to play against the computer, however if you have an Internet connection then the random opponent option more than makes up for this. Scrabble wordlists are available in six languages; English French, Spanish, Italian, German and Brazilian Portuguese with additional American variations of English.

An interesting feature is the know-it-all “Teacher,” which you can have turned on to tell you what word you should have inserted after you have completed a turn. Whilst it can be annoying it helps you tho think more about what words you should be considering. Aside from this the rest of the Scrabble game is conducted normally with the ability to exchange letters randomly and pass turns etc. The only noticeably annoying feature of the free version is the pop-up ads that appear every so often, however this is the price of “free.”

The Good

Space saver

Play online or over social networks

Teacher feature

Pass and Play

Good layout

The Bad

Pop-up-advertising in-between turns

The Verdict

While playing Scrabble on an iPad or iPhone might not appeal to the traditionalists who like the idea of gathering to play around a board, there is no denying that the free app is a complete substitute for it, offering all of the same features and the ability to play with friends or random people all around the world when you have no family to challenge. Yes the pop-up ads are annoying but infrequent enough to not really get in a twist over and if you really want then you can upgrade the game to a paid-for version boasting no ads and more features. But for all iOS owners who are fans of Scrabble or word games, then this free app is a must-have download.